Paper documents have an enduring appeal, as can be seen by the proliferation of paper documents even in the computer age. It has never been easier to print and publish paper documents than it is today. Paper documents prevail even though electronic documents are easier to duplicate, transmit, search and edit.
People read for a variety of reasons: for enjoyment, for education, to research a particular topic, for business-related information-gathering, for reference purposes or to keep in touch with current affairs, to name but a few. Every day around the world, a vast amount of human time, effort and mental energy goes into reading.
Much of this effort is lost. Even those with good memories will remember only a small proportion of the content that they read. A larger proportion may be remembered in a vague way, but finding previously read material again is a difficult task and conveying that vague knowledge to others even harder.
Moreover, printed documents are static. They do afford users the convenience and flexibility we have come to associate with electronic data; the ability to copy, edit, search, classify, annotate and distribute information with ease.
Given the popularity of paper documents and the advantages of electronic documents, it would be useful to combine the benefits of both.